Undercover Blues
by Tigerlily06
Summary: The prodigal son returns. Slash implied.
1. Chapter 1

Rick stood outside Interview Room Two studying the dark haired man who sat at the table. He was dressed in a garish blue and white Hawaiian shirt and dark slacks. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of what Rick presumed were knockoff designer sunglasses.

He appeared the epitome of cool, calm and collected.

Rick checked the file in his hand. It was for a Colin McGuire and he was a confidential informant who had been picked up in that night's drug sting because his cover was about to be blown.

Narcotics believed him to be of some value, but all their officers were busy going through that night's haul and had asked for help. Rick's boss had jumped on the chance to show the department that Internal Affairs was more than the iRat Squad/i.

Rick pushed that thought out of his mind and walked into the room. He had an interrogation to perform before he went back to his sterile office to write up another meaningless report, and then go home to a cold and silent condo.

The man looked up from tracing the grain of the table with his index finger. The sunglasses had slid down his nose, but he pushed them back up before Rick could get a look at his eyes.

This annoyed Rick and he ordered the man to remove them.

"The light hurts my eyes," the man softly replied.

"Life's full of pain, so take them off," Rick snapped.

The man shrugged. "Anything you say, chief," he purred before lifting his cuffed hands and removing the glasses.

Rick watched him toss the glasses onto the table with a hint of casual indifference. It was something his ex-lover would do when annoyed, and it was a painful reminder of what Rick had lost.

It had been over a year since his ex-lover had disappeared during an undercover assignment. The department had written him off, but Rick hadn't because he thought he knew Horatio Caine.

But crystal blue eyes boring into his brown ones, proved him wrong.

"Horatio?" Rick asked incredulous.

"I should be hurt that you didn't recognize me," Horatio calmly replied.

"You disappear for a year and you're hurt?"

"I was doing my job."

"You were running away."

"From what exactly?"

"The lab, your team, Speed's death, me," Rick rattled off.

"I was recruited."

"Bullshit." Rick shook his head and frown. "You asked for the assignment, but what I want to know is why."

"To protect you."

"Breaking up what I assumed was a good relationship and disappearing to God alone knows where, is your idea of protecting me?!" Rick exclaimed.

"Now, Rick," Horatio tried to raise his hands in a calming gesture, but the cuffs clinked and ruined the effect. "No need to get bent out of shape."

Rick stepped back toward the table and leaned into Horatio's face. "Be thankful there is an officer in here and another one at the door or I would show you bent out of shape."

"You don't have it in you," Horatio countered.

"Things have changed, Horatio." Rick walked away and leaned against the wall next to the two-way mirror. "I've changed."

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

Horatio shrugged and tried to lean back in his seat. His cuffed hands put paid to the cynical indifference he was trying to hide behind.

"Am I going to be charged with something," he inquired as he held out his hands and shook the cuffs. "Or are these merely for decoration?"

Rick sighed. He walked over and undid the cuffs. "You are being kept on ice until the repercussions from tonight's sting filter through the criminal establishment."

Horatio rubbed his wrists and snorted in derision. "One thing certainly hasn't changed. You still know how to sling the shit."

"Don't start picking a fight because you're pissed off, Horatio," Rick countered knowing it would set off his ex and give him the excuse to throw him in the drunk tank for the night.

"I'll be a good boy, Rick," Horatio muttered. "I don't feel like spending the night with the drunks."

"Then help me understand what went wrong," Rick requested. He pulled out a chair and sat across from Horatio. "What made you go rogue?"

Horatio looked Rick directly in the eye and softly said, "Raymond."

TBC…


	3. Chapter 3

"What about Raymond?" Rick inquired when all he wanted to do was swear. Horatio's younger brother had done his best to get between him and the redhead when he was alive, and Rick had hoped his influence on Horatio had waned upon his death.

"He's alive," Horatio mumbled as he toyed with his discarded sunglasses.

Rick settled back in his seat with a tired sigh. "Pull the other one, Horatio."

Horatio looked up his blue eyes expressing everything he was feeling. "I'm being serious, Rick. Raymond is alive. DEA faked his death."

"And that's about as likely as me walking on the moon."

Horatio sent his sunglasses flying across the room. He slammed back his chair and walked over to the windows. He stared out them only able to see his reflection as the dark grey metal shielding combined with the florescent lighting turned them into a mirror.

He clenched and unclenched his hands as he fought to keep his anger in check. If he lashed out at Rick, he would be sitting on his ass in a cell waiting arraignment.

He wasn't surprised that Rick didn't believe him. Disappointed, but not surprised. He wouldn't believe that his brother was still alive, if he hadn't seen Raymond with his own eyes days earlier.

He dug into his shirt pocket and pulled out a battered pack of cheroots. He fumbled with the pack and the lighter, but finally managed to light one.

Rick joined Horatio at the windows calmly waiting the redhead out. He was a bit dismayed when Horatio started to smoke.

"Do you know how many laws you are breaking?"

Horatio blew a stream of smoke toward the ceiling. He shot Rick an annoyed look and asked in a beligerant tone, "Do I look like I fucking care?"

"No," Rick replied before removing the cheroot from Horatio's hand. He dropped it on the black, tile floor and grounded it out with his toe. "But, I do."

"Fine, I'll just go outside." Horatio turned to leave the room.

Rick reached out and placed a hand on Horatio's arm to stop him ignoring the electric spark that shot up his arm. The attraction he felt for the redhead was still alive and well, but also troubling since he didn't want to fall back into what they had had prior to Horatio's disappearance. "I can't let you do that."

"Then you better come with me," Horatio said removing Rick's hand from his arm trying not to acknowledge his body's reaction to Rick's touch, "and protect me, because I'm going. I'm tired of being a caged beast."

Rick rolled his eyes and escorted Horatio outside with one of the uniformed officers following discreetly behind.

Horatio lit another cheroot and settled on the bench near the side entrance of the building. Being outside combined with the nicotine helped to relax him, so when Rick joined him on the bench he didn't jump five feet in the air.

"What are you hiding from, Horatio?"

"What makes you think I'm hiding?" Horatio countered. He lit a new cheroot with the old one before crushing it out.

"You're chain smoking for one thing and this bullshit about Raymond being alive for another," Rick pointed out.

"I'm not hiding. Raymond is alive and I wish to God he wasn't."

"Why would the DEA fake his death?" Rick asked trying to come up with a logical explanation for Raymond Caine's return to the living. "He was about to be arrested for being a dirty cop."

"The DEA was using Raymond to infiltrate a terrorist ring that financed their schemes with drug money, so with him on the verge of getting arrested for being dirty would only enhance his cover," Horatio explained. "Or, so that's what Agent Park wanted me to believe."

Rick shook his head in disbelief. "That sounds like something out of a movie."

"And 9-11 looked like something out of a movie," Horatio reminded Rick with a bitter note in his voice.

"You don't need to remind me, Horatio!" Rick snapped once again pissed off with his ex-lover. "If you recall, I lost my sister in the attack on the Pentagon."

Horatio finished smoking and flicked the butt into the darkness. "Sorry. I loved Katie, too," he softly said. He dropped his head into his hands. "I wish this shit was over with."

Rick sighed. His anger at Horatio drained from his body. He rarely was able to stay mad at the redhead for long. "Me too," he agreed. He reached out and took one of Horatio's freckled hands in his. "I've missed you, Horatio."

Horatio looked up. "I've missed you as well, Rick."

"What's next?"

"I don't know," Horatio sighed and rubbed his face. He was coming down from adrenaline high that had come from being arrested. "I honestly do not know."

"Whatever happens we are in it together," Rick reassured him giving Horatio's hand a gentle squeeze.

"I can't let you throw your career away," the redhead argued. "You've worked to hard to get where you're at."

"Ass kissing isn't hard work and you know that, Horatio," Rick countered.

"Rick."

"No, Horatio." Rick let go of Horatio's hand and placed a finger on the redhead's lips to silence him. "My future is with you."

"Isn't this just sweet?" snarked Raymond as he pushed away from the palm tree he had been hiding behind. "My queer, big brother and his rat fink lover."

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

Before anyone could even think about stopping him, Horatio had reached across and pulled Rick's service weapon from his holster. He steadily pointed the gun at Raymond.

Rick heard the patrolman behind him draw his weapon and click off the safety just as Horatio growled, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't send you straight back to hell?"

"Because you would be no better than our father," Raymond countered unfazed by Horatio's actions.

"I've been compared to worse people," Horatio retorted and squeezed the trigger.

&/&/&

The loudness of the shot finally woke Rick from his daze. He grabbed his gun from Horatio and ordered the patrolman to check on Raymond while he did the hardest thing in his life.

"Horatio Caine, you're under arrest for the attempted murder of Raymond Caine."

"Kinda hard to kill a dead man," Horatio quietly remarked the anger he felt toward Raymond had drained from his body as Rick returned the handcuffs to his wrists.

"That's beside the point," Rick muttered. He escorted Horatio back into the station.

TBC...


End file.
